Cycling Parameter ?s

[tonyh67]

A little history. The first shipment of a 29g Package has been in for 3 days. It left Tampa at 7pm and was in my tank by noon the next day...water temp was about 68F when I got it home. Rock went straight from bags(all full of water) to the tank...exposed to air about 5 seconds at the most.

I am using AP color matching test kits all less than 6 months old.

Readings have been pretty much the same every day.

PH 7.8...should I do anything about this. It was 8.2-8.4 prior to introducing the rock and sand?

AM. I surely question my ability to read this thing, anywhere from .5 to 1...I am not very confident about this. Hard to match colors...when I test freshwater the sample stays clear, but when I test saltwater it clouds. Is that normal?

Nitrite is 0 to .25
Nitrate is 0-5, for sure no more than 10.

Spec. Grav. 1.0235
Temp 78F

Smells good, some sponges are turning white...seems to be a lot of life in the tank. Remora is collecting some bubbles, not a ton though...seems to come and go.

Thoughts?

 

[tonyh67]

More on the Ammonia.

Does the test become more inaccurate as time passes? The manufacturer tells you to check at 5 min...anything after that accurate, does the test ever stabilize?

With the test tube sample being cloudy making it difficult to read, sometimes I think maybe it is as high as 4...is this possible given the other parameters?

I think I am being a worry wart sometimes, but I don't want to kill this awesome rock. Maybe get a new test kit?

 

[nuts590]

thoughts you want, thoughts you get...

Don't sweat the cloudy AP test kit, it's normal. (if you feel like wasting some test material, test a sample of freshwater, then add a few grains of whatever salt mix you're using to the tube. it'll go from clear color to cloudy color as soon as the salt disolves... I was bored... don't ask... lol)

Next, I cannot emphasize to you the importance of water changes! If the ammonia is getting above a comfortable 1.0 on the AP kit, do a water change to bring it back down below 1.0. and unfortunately, it may be possible if you haven't done water changes that the ammonia is in fact a 4.0

What type of water are you using when you do a water change? Is it just tap water w/ a dechlorination treatment in it? R/O? The water you're using might just be a big part of the problem (mine was... it got resolved... and if you want to get funny looks sometime, go buy 50 gallons of bottled R/O water at wal-mart at 3am. )

Also, something you might want to do if you're seeing white stuff on sponge/rock is pull the rock out and give it a quick sniff... if it smells funky (trust me, you'll know "funky" if you smell it...) scrub it off.

I got a 3 pack of cheapo brushes to scrub with, used the nylon bristles for anything that I didn't want to destroy, used the stainless steel brush to get all the decaying sponge off, and the bronze brush went into my gun cleaning box.

While you have the rock out, grab a small flashlight and shine the light in the small holes... if you've got mantis shrimp that are hiding, might be a great time to "relocate" them.

Something else I did with my rock was just to poke around at it a little.. I found 2 dead cucumbers that were rotting away but were covered with little bits of the live sand... so if you're poking around and you hit something soft.. investigate.

A thread you might want to read:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=329617

 

[tonyh67]

Thank you for the "thoughts"...very very much appreciated. I have in fact done two water changes...the first 5 gallons, the second a day later 7 gallons. I am using RO water.

I feel like I can convince myself of any number between .5 and 4 on that kit.

 

[nuts590]

I know the feeling... Here's what my rule of thumb has been with this... if it doesn't match the 1.0 or less on the kit, water change. No second guessing, just a quick 2-4 gallon change.. Takes all of 5-10 minutes, but it's cheap peace of mind.

I'm using a Jungle Labs ammonia kit as my backup but it goes from .25 to .50 to 3.0 So it's not real helpful when I'm trying to measure between .5 and 3.0 .

 

[tonyh67]

I kind of am going with that rule of thumb too, better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[nuts590]

don't mention it...

 

[tonyh67]

Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law

Mr. Murphy strikes. You gotta love Michigan, snow on Easter morning...a few days later it is 80 degrees.

An unusually strong wind begins blowing last night(Sunday), as if my nerves are not on the edge as it is. Power stays on throughout the night.

Monday morning I am at work and the power goes out. I call home periodically...my answering machine is picking up. I still got juice...didn't worry the last half of the work day, it was only out an hour.

When I arrive home, no power...I am freaking of course. I do a quick temp. check, 76 degrees. Tank actually looks pretty good, sponges are looking better, pods everywhere. The filter feeders are grasping in the still water. An hour and a half later, the power comes back on.

Temp. had dropped about 3 degrees. Getting the following readings...looks like the cycling has began?

Ammonia 1 or less
Nitrite .25
Nitrate 10-20

Do you think the temp and water flow conditions will cause further dieoff and make matters worse?

 

[nuts590]

I doubt you're in trouble... it ships at colder temps with air turbulance causing the water movement... How's the cycle coming along?

 

[tonyh67]

Cycling is going great, and the tank is looking excellent. PH is a little low, should I be concerned?

Spec. Gravity- 1.024
Temp- 78F
PH- 7.8, maybe 8(at the most)
Am- .5
Nitrite- .25
Nitrate-10

 

[nuts590]

check your PMs